Develop your journey

Current projects

Art researchers at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

High school students are invited to become “Art Researchers at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac” for one school year.

Students unlock the secrets of the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia and the Americas by exploring works in the museum and meeting professionals (museum staff, researchers, anthropologists and art historians).

Enriched by their museum experience and a critical perspective, the “Art Researchers” become torchbearers of culture, through a variety of media (digital online tools, exhibition in their institution) and events (Nights at the Museum, Day of Arts and Culture).

A museum of primitive art at school

Who?Five classes involved: three at kindergarten level (ages 3-5) and two at elementary school level (ages 6-8).Collège Etienne de Flacourt de Tuléar, MadagascarTeacher: Christine Cordenos (third year of kindergarten)

What?Two artists in residence at the institution (Jacques Efiambelo, creator of aloalos and Sophie Bazin, mixed-media artist) explore the functional and aesthetic elements of traditional objects (aloalos, masks, Zafimaniry art, engraving, embroidery) and the relationships with contemporary art (land art, photography). The students produce work using the techniques acquired, which is then presented in an exhibition within the school.

Musée du quai Branly in Grigny

What?Each class spent an entire day at the museum following a thematic program designed by teachers based on the narrated tours, guided tours and workshops offered by the museum. Back at school, each class “specialized” in one continent or one artistic practice (storytelling or music).

Various skills and disciplines were employed the course of their discoveries and further explorations (visual arts, mastery of written or oral language, civic competence, etc.).

The common objective of these various projects was to share their discoveries with the other elementary school students, as well as kindergarten and high school students, through the creation of a joint exhibition and shows.

Two exhibitions in collaboration with Etienne Demange, teacher at Lycée Français de Cali, are currently on display at the Gold Museum in Bogotá.

What?The high school students were able to:

discover what archaeology teaches us about culture (visit to the Gold Museum in Bogotá; lecture on the relationships between men and animals in pre-Columbian cultures);

explore the history and evolution of indigenous cultures in Columbia (encounter with members of a Wounaan tribe, originally from western Columbia, now living in the capital);

use traditional fabrication techniques (weaving with glass pearls, clay modelling and metal embossing) and stylization of pre-Columbian motifs to produce their own objects with their own iconography, reflecting their urban environment and contemporary culture.

When?School year 2012-2013

Travellers’ tales, observing the other

What?Creation of a fictional travel journal with these instructions given at the start: “Write an excerpt from a travel journal. You are a scientist (botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, musicologist or other) on one of the first ships to the American continent, either in the flotilla led by Christopher Columbus or in those led by one of the explorers who followed.

When?School year 2010-2011

Find out moredownload the project summary

Art researchers at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

This project allowed students to learn about the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas through encounters with artefacts and professionals (museum staff, anthropologists and artists) who offered a unique perspective.

The students reflected on the art and objects they encountered in the museum, giving successive descriptions during the process, and writing, drawing, photographing, filming, etc., in order to reproduce this experience in their personal notebooks and in a class blog.

Writing an african story

What?The teacher read African stories to the students (“Adame N’Diaye, the Very First Griot in the World”, “Bouki the Hyena”, etc.) to help them to listen, pay attention and understand during their visit to the Dogon exhibition, familiarizing them with some traditional figures and the oral tradition.

Visa for africa! an imaginary travel journal

What?A museum “exploration” booklet provided support for the visit and helped the students to understand the works they would encounter… and invited them to investigate, research, observe and take notes… with the aim of producing an imaginary travel journal!